Urbanistin Pl tra IR Racionalumo Retorika: C. A. Doxiadis'o Koncepcij Likimas

The prospects of a new century urge us to reconsider the mental legacy of the past century: theories and practices of urban planning that came into existence in a certain intellectual climate and circumstances. The paper is an attempt to reconsider the rhetoric of rationality that manifested in urban design in the second half of the 20th century. Focusing on the legacy of the Greek architect, theorist and urban planner Constantinos A. Doxiadis as well as his relationship with the dominating ideas of his time, the author examines what were the sources of his concepts of entopia and ecumenopolis and in what aspects they are different from cyclical theory of city's growth, articulated by Lewis Mumford. The contexts in which ideology of progress gained strength resulted in the rise of belief of rational and globalising urban planning, introduced by Doxiadis' ekistics. It is shown that despite highly rational rhetoric and the use of scientific data, methods and procedures of research in planning the future global city, the final results were rather modest and limited, despite of the fact that the Greek urban planner succeeded in carrying a vast number of projects in several continents: the belief in the concept of progress faded away and attempts to "export" values of Western liberal democracy with the help of urban planning proved to be far less succesful than was initially intended.